McDonald’s shut down due to sinkhole

SHELBY — A sinkhole has forced the McDonald's restaurant on East Dixon Boulevard near Shelby High School to close for at least a month.

Owners closed the restaurant Monday to replace a collapsed sewage drain from the 1950s, which should solve the sinkhole problem, said Shawn Kuthan, son of the restaurant owner, who helps run the McDonald’s franchises in Shelby. Owners hope to reopen the restaurant by late March or early April, Kuthan said.

The 24-hour restaurant has been dealing with the sinkhole for several months.

“In September, the sinkhole showed up, and we had to close the first drive-thru lane. (On Monday,) we had to shut down the power to the building,” Kuthan said.

Up until Monday, much of the construction could be done without disturbing the front of the business. The area affected is an 8-foot-wide by 8-foot-deep area right at the drive-thru screens behind and to the right of the store. To assess and repair the damage done by the collapsed sewage drain and the sinkhole, construction crews must now dig 30 feet down.

“It takes a while to get down that far,” Kuthan said.

Construction workers have assured Kuthan the sinkhole will not get any bigger, and they will be filling the collapsed sewage drain area with concrete once the new drain is in place, he said.

The closure does mean a loss in revenue for the franchise.

“There is definitely a loss of sales, but it is undetermined yet what the loss is,” Kuthan said.

Customers are being redirected to the Cleveland Mall location, 2001 E. Dixon Blvd., Shelby. The 60 employees at the restaurant have also been reassigned to one of seven other locations owned by the Kuthans.

“We’ve dispersed workers through Kings Mountain, Cherryville, Shelby (Cleveland Mall), and we even have one going to Denver,” Kuthan said.

The East Dixon Boulevard store had just reopened its doors in March 2016 following renovations that started in September 2015.

Kuthan said he is disappointed with the setback in the store, but the family is now making plans for another grand reopening.

“It is kind of disappointing, we had this new store up and running. Then this happens. But when we do open, we will have a re-grand opening, something similar that we had (March 2016),” Kuthan said.